This was the last peak in the area after climbing Uncompahgre/Wetterhorn and Redcloud/Sunshine the previous two days. It was a perfect day for climbing, sunny skies and no wind going up the normal route in 3 hours. I had the summit to myself the whole 30 minutes I was there. This one has the best views of the 5 local 14ers. Made it down in 1:10.

Meetup.com Fierce Planet hike. We climbed Uncompahgre the day before, then camped at Grizzly Gulch. This one was a lot tougher, but the weather was almost perfect, and the views are even better than Uncompahgre. The views of Uncompahgre and The Wetterhorn are amazing! We had planned to continue along the ridge and knock off a few unnamed 13ers, but it looked a little dodgy, so we returned the way we came. The next day, we would finish off the weekend by climbing Redcloud & Sunshine.

Since we were camped by Animas Forks we decided to add another 3 miles to the hike up this mountain by taking the Grouse Gultch Trailhead. That was a mistake. Once you go up to the ridge at 13,090 you had to drop about 1000 feet into American Basin, then summit. Only take this route if your backpacking.

Climbed via the American Basin Route from the Lake San Cristobal Road. The flowers in the American Basin were astounding this time of year. The trail was in great shape although loose gravel made the final ascent to the summit a little more difficult. A great introductory hike to the San Juans.